Skype Stay Together Family Portraits

Skype “Stay Together” Family Portraits forgets about the nuts and bolts and instead focusing on the technology’s ability to impact human lives. In this case, to keep family and friends in touch despite long distances. Their accounts are wildly different, heartfelt approaches to living apart from loved ones.

The first of the series,“The Impossible Family Portrait” tells the story of Denis who is separated from his home in Uganda but keeps in touch with his family and adopted son over Skype.“The Animal Family Portrait” is a unique story of a zookeeper whose work visa had run out in Australia and visits with her animal friends at the wildlife park via Skype. Starting today, “The Growing Up Family Portrait” introduces 10-year-old Julia, who keeps up with her 12-year-old cousin in Brazil and shows just how delicate staying together can be at that age to avoid growing apart.

For each story, Singaporean photographer and visual artist John Clang captures these family portraits with a photograph where everyone is able to pose shoulder-to-shoulder…or hand-to-paw, or ballet-slipper-to-sneaker, through a Skype projection on the wall. The result is a uniquely special family portrait that joins loved ones in the real and digital world. The spots were shot and directed by Station collective Peking, the directing duo of Nat Livingston Johnson and Gregory Mitnick.

The campaign blog hosts this content as well as a contest where people can share and vote on real stories of how they use Skype to stay in communication with faraway family and friends. The grand prize is a trip to see loved ones, complete with their own Clang portrait. A Bing interactive map also allows users to explore stories and view friends and family in faraway locations.

Campaign outreach focused on engaging consumers and bringing the “Stay Together” concept to life within social channels via YouTube vloggers, online show integrations, blogger participation, and partnerships with networks including O, BBC and Glam.